1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus of making a soft drink at relatively low temperatures by mixing a liquid material such as syrup, honey or fruit juice with shaved ice.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, there has been available semi-refrigerated soft ice-drink as represented by, for example, sherbet in which a principal raw material such as fruit juice is semi-frozen. Fruit juice and milk charged into a refrigerator are cooled and stirred to thereby make the sherbet. Another making method is known wherein syrup and water are added with carbon-dioxide gas and frozen and bubbled with a refrigerator while being stirred to thereby prepare the sherbet.
In any conventional methods, however, a liquid drink material is stirred and cooled with a refrigerator so as to be partly iced and consequently a resulting drink, even if foam-like and soft, contains iced pieces which advantageously give an actual feeling of cold to tactile impression in the mouth when the consumer tastes the drink but contrarily, often give an uncomfortable feeling to the tongue.
Under the circumstances, the inventors of the present invention have already proposed a soft ice-drink making apparatus as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 053,971 to solve the problems encountered in the conventional ice-drink making.
Summarily, the proposed soft ice-drink making apparatus comprises an ice shaving mechanism, disposed on an apparatus bed, including a shaver casing having a slit to which a shaving blade is exposed and a shaved ice discharge chute, rotatable blades, provided within the shaver casing, for cooperating with the shaving blade to shave ice blocks charged into the shaver casing, and a first drive motor for rotating the rotatable blades, and a mixing mechanism, disposed on the apparatus bed and under the ice shaving mechanism, including rotary blades, rotatably supported within a container disposed beneath the shaved ice discharge chute, for mixing together a liquid material such as syrup present within the container and shaved ice pieces discharged into the container and smashing the shaved ice pieces into granules of ice, and a second drive motor for rotating the rotary blades at high speeds. The proposed apparatus constructed as above has succeeded in solving the aforementioned problems.
In the proposed apparatus, however, the first and second drive motors are started substantially simultaneously. As a result, the shaved ice pieces stagnate at an upper part inside the container to form a partition wall, raising an unsolved problem that smashing of shaved ice pieces and mixing of shaved ice pieces with the liquid material are insufficiently done within the container.